Drinking Water Process Staff Engineer

Black & Veatch Corporation; Irvine (CA); Hybrid; USD 120,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

ESOP ownership

401k plan

Tuition reimbursement

Flexible work schedules

Paid vacation and holidays

Job summary

Black & Veatch is seeking a Drinking Water Process Staff Engineer in Irvine, CA. The role focuses on conventional and advanced water treatment processes, leading design efforts, and providing technical guidance across projects worldwide.

The position emphasizes safety, ownership, and employee-ownership culture within a flexible work environment. You will collaborate with multi-disciplinary teams to apply advanced water treatment techniques, supervise staff, and contribute to client relationships

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering from an accredited program; PE license preferred.
• Minimum of 5 years related work experience in drinking water treatment.
• Advanced degree (Master’s or Doctoral) preferred.

Responsibilities

• Prepares or assists in development of engineering deliverables, including process flow diagrams and P&IDs.
• Supports multiple projects with complex technical challenges.
• Mentors junior engineers and leads process design.
• Coordinates with clients and project teams to meet design objectives.
• Develops life cycle cost evaluations and recommendations for treatment options.

Skills

Water treatment expertise

Project leadership

Regulatory compliance

Client engagement

Process engineering

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Advanced degree (MS/PhD) in civil/environmental/chemical engineering

Professional Engineer (PE) license

Job description

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Drinking Water Process Staff Engineer

Date: Sep 28, 2026

Location: Irvine, CA, US Los Angeles, CA, US Murrieta, CA, US

Company: Black & Veatch Family of Companies

Together, we own our company, our future, and our shared success.

As an employee-owned company, our people are Black & Veatch. We put them at the center of everything we do and empower them to grow, explore new possibilities and use their diverse talents and perspectives to solve humanity's biggest challenges in an ever-evolving world. With over 100 years of innovation in sustainable infrastructure and our expertise in engineering, procurement, consulting and construction, together we are building a world of difference.

Company :Black & Veatch Corporation

Opportunity Type :Staff

Project Only Hire :No

Why Black & Veatch?

At Black & Veatch, you’ll be part of work that matters-designing, creating, and building the infrastructure communities rely on every day, from concept through execution.

We care about how the work gets done as much as what we build. Safety is built into every decision, and people look out for each other—speaking up, collaborating, and doing the right thing because it affects real lives.

You’ll work alongside teams solving complex challenges and turning ideas into solutions that perform in the real world-gaining hands-on experience across projects, technologies, and disciplines.

Ownership shows up in how we work. We take responsibility for outcomes, follow through on commitments, and take pride in what we deliver. As a 100% employee-owned company, employees share in the long-term success we build together.

With flexible ways of working and meaningful development opportunities, you’ll build a career you can be proud to stand behind.

The Opportunity

In this role, you will have the opportunity to:

• Functionin a water process engineer role as a technical specialist or in a lead process engineer in the areas of conventional water treatment using processes such as coagulation, clarification, softening, media filtration; and advanced water treatment processes such as membrane filtration, reverse osmosis (brackish, seawater), UV/AOP, ozonation, carbon adsorption, and/or distribution system water quality.
• Apply advanced water treatment and engineering techniques, concepts, and approaches to solve complex engineering problems for a wide range of water quality and treatment challenges.
• Develop over time necessary skills to provide technical guidance over a group, supervise engineering staff on projects, and collaborate with multi-disciplinary design teams to implement complex treatment solutions.
• Developand presenttechnical evaluations and recommendations to clients and key stakeholders.
• Assistand in some cases, leads business development activities and external marketing opportunities such as presenting at local/national conferences, building/maintaining client relationships, and supporting new business pursuits and proposal development.

Your role would include diverse opportunities in water treatment and process design, ranging from conventional water treatment, brackish and seawater desalination, reuse, and mining water. You will be part of a team that directs the process design for projects around the world for a global engineering firm. Great career stability and growth potential with record backlog and revenue growth in all those solution areas. Join our award-winning work culture, enjoy flexible work location, and become an employee owner.

The Team

Black & Veatch Process Engineers develop technical solutions that are critical to winning work and drive design deliverables for critical infrastructure projects with community benefits. Our Team of over 200 process engineers support water, industrial, next generation agriculture, LNG, hydrogen, fertilizer, and carbon capture businesses among others. We have transformed our team to align with megatrends associated with water scarcity, limited resources, alternative fuels, and energy sustainability. Our industry leading solutions modernize infrastructure, optimize asset use, reduce cost, and mitigate risk.

Why BVs Process Engineering Team?

• The work is rewarding and meaningful
• The team is comprised of supportive and appreciative professionals
• Career opportunities exist in many rapidly expanding business solutions

Key Responsibilities

Engineering

• Prepares or assists in development of a variety of engineering deliverables, including process/mass balance calculations, design criteria/basis of design memoranda, process flow diagrams, P&IDs, tradeoff studies, and master planning studies
• Supports multiple projects simultaneously with complex technical challenges
• Develops as a technical specialist with support from senior process engineers, providing guidance to project teams in water quality considerations and conventional and/or advanced water treatment systems
• Designs a complete project of moderately complex scope within an assigned practice area(s)
• Performs applied research, including bench, pilot, and full-scale testing to select or assess performance of alternative treatment processes
• Develops recommendations for appropriate treatment processes, equipment and/or materials selection
• Oversees collection, assimilation, analysis, and management of data for process design work
• Prepares complex engineering calculations following standard methods and principles
• Manages assigned budget, schedule, and quality requirements
• Independently applies advanced engineering techniques and analysis problems and methods
• Reviews the work of junior engineers
• Is responsible for leading process design of projects
• Demonstrates strong technical writing skills and effective communication
• Develops conceptual-level life cycle costs to evaluate treatment options
• Actively coordinates with internal and external team members for successful project execution

Client Focus

• Responsible for assisting with identification of key client interests and drivers for ongoing projects and new business prospects
• Communicates client interests and drivers to project team members and develops creative solutions and approaches to accommodate our clients’ goals and objectives
• Supports business development and pursuit activities, including involvement in pre-positioning meetings, proposal development, client interviews, identification of winning sales messages.
• Present on applied research, industry trends, challenging projects and innovative ideas at local, regional, and national conferences

People Management

• Actively fosters technical and professional development of junior engineers
• Provide mentoring and guidance to junior engineers
• Participate in coaching opportunities, career development planning, learning/training, and development of junior staff

Engineering Standards

• Provides guidance and direction on department design guides, standards, systems, and applicable engineering codes related to water quality and treatment
• Assists in developing, maintaining and updating engineering standards
• Provides technical guidance to others regarding projects and disciplines

Preferred Qualifications

• Advanced degree (Master’s or Doctoral) in civil, environmental, or chemical engineering preferred.
• 8 years of experience in drinking water treatment with at least 4 years in water quality and treatment (water quality analysis, treatment evaluations, process design, regulatory compliance assessments, distribution water quality analysis, etc.).
• Knowledge of process design for treatment of municipal water treatment systems, federal and state regulations, engineering design principles, and applicable design guides and standards.
• Established leadership skills with deep understanding of consulting, project execution, client services, and business development.
• Effective written and oral communications, Drive for Results, Priority Setting, Planning, Delegation, Directing Others, Conflict Management, Informing, Listening, Dealing with Ambiguity, And Building Effective Teams

Minimum Qualifications

• Requires a bachelor's degree in engineering from either a recognized accredited program in their home country or the country in which the professional is practicing.
• Minimum of 5 years related work experience.
• All applicants must be able to complete pre-employment onboarding requirements (if selected) which may include any/all of the following: criminal/civil background check, drug screen, and motor vehicle records search, in compliance with any applicable laws and regulations.

Certifications

Professional engineering license preferred from any of the states in the USA or ability to obtain one within 2 years of employment required.

Work Environment/Physical Demands

Hybrid or flexible work options may be offered after the first 90 days of employment based upon manager discretion, job performance and work assignments.

016

Black & Veatch is committed to being an employer of choice by creating a valuable work experience that keeps our people engaged, productive, safe and healthy.

Our comprehensive benefits portfolio is a key component of this commitment and offers an array of health care benefits including but not limited to medical, dental and vision insurances along with disability and a robust wellness program.

To support a healthy work-life balance, we offer flexible work schedules, paid vacation and holiday time, sick time, and dependent sick time.

A variety of additional benefits are available to our professionals, including a company-matched 401k plan, adoption reimbursement, tuition reimbursement, vendor discounts, an employment referral program, AD&D insurance, pre-taxed accounts, voluntary legal plan and the B&V Credit Union. Professionals may also be eligible for a performance-based bonus program.

We are proud to be a 100 percent ESOP-owned company. As employee-owners, our professionals are empowered to drive not only their personal growth, but the company's long-term achievements - and they share in the financial rewards of the success through stock ownership.

By valuing diverse voices and perspectives, we cultivate an authentically inclusive environment for professionals and are able to provide innovative and effective solutions for clients.

BVH, Inc., its subsidiaries and its affiliated companies, complies with all Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) laws and regulations. Black & Veatch does not discriminate on the basis of age, race, religion, color, sex, national origin, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender Identity and expression, disability, veteran status, pregnancy status or other status protected by law.

In accordance with local law, the following Annual compensation range is applicable for the job and location associated with this requisition:$120,406.00-$210,220.00